


Anchored by Love

by robinasnyder



Series: Bears and Lions [1]
Category: Christopher Robin (2018), Chronicles of Narnia (Movies)
Genre: M/M, human!aslan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25413235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinasnyder/pseuds/robinasnyder
Summary: A year after the passing of Christopher’s wife, and new family moves into the house next to the Robin house in Sussex. Pevensie family consists of four lovely children who become quick friends with Madeline, and their deeply handsome father Aslan who Christopher could swear he’s met before.
Relationships: Christopher Robin/Aslan
Series: Bears and Lions [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1843741
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	Anchored by Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Orientalld](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orientalld/gifts).



Christopher returned to Sussex in a more permanent manner the year his wife died. It was a freak accident. A driver drunk on the wrong side of the road. Winslow Sr was extremely sympathetic. He’d lost his wife when they were young as well. Mr. Winslow liked Christopher a lot. That had to do with the fact that Christopher’s vacation concept made Winslow a huge amount of money in sales and improved both worker loyalty and productivity. So, nominally, Christopher Robin was sent to Sussex to open a new branch of Winslow luggage. In reality, it was to allow Christopher and Madeline to escape the house in London. 

The house in Sussex was every bit as haunted by Evelyn’s memory and presence as the house in London, but some of Christopher’s earliest childhood memories happened in the house in Sussex. Also, what was left of his family was there. After the move, Christopher and Madeline had gone to the Hundred Acre Woods. It was easiest for Christopher to explain it to Kanga and Eeyore. Kanga was a mother and Eeyore understood sadness. 

The others didn’t get it, not really. But they knew Evelyn was gone and not coming back. Pooh sat with Christopher for an hour, looking at the heavy cloud cover. 

“Christopher Robin,” Pooh finally said. 

“Yes, Pooh?” Christopher asked. He’d cried himself out before he’d gotten there. He’d wanted this afternoon to be a happy one, but he’d lapsed into silence hours ago. It wasn’t even a good silence, just a defeated one. 

“Will you let her go like you let us go?” Pooh asked. 

“I came back to you, Pooh,” Christopher said, trying not to feel the way his heart ached. 

“So you’ll come back to Evelyn my Wife?” Pooh asked. Christopher let out a watery chuckle. They had called her “Evelyn my Wife” the entire time they’d known her. She’d found it so charming. 

“I won’t let her go, even if I can’t see her.” 

“That’s good then. Though I bet she will be happy for you to come back even if you do,” Pooh said. 

“Thank you,” Christopher whispered. He picked Pooh up and hugged him. “I miss her.” 

“We missed you too,” Pooh said. “But you came back.” 

“I wish it was just the same,” Christopher whispered. “But I do believe I’ll see her again. It will just be a very, very long time.” 

“Then, I will wait with you,” Pooh declared. “Waiting is nicer when you have someone to wait with.” 

“That it is,” Christopher murmured, pressing his nose into Pooh’s soft head and breathed in the deeply familiar scent. The scent never changed, even from when he was a boy. Pooh smelled like dirt and honey. He smelled like home. 

Christopher and Madeline spent their whole summer with Pooh and the others. They took two weeks off to go to the coast, taking all of their friends with them. They needed it. Even when Christopher began work properly, he still stopped into the Hundred Acre Woods three or four times a week, forget how often he would come home to find Madeline drawing with Rabbit and Piglet while Tigger bounced around the room, breaking everything in sight and Pooh ransacked his cabinets. 

It was happy, even under the sadness that wouldn’t go away. Christopher knew sadness. It had never truly left him since his father died. The weight of that sadness after the war had nearly drowned him. He was grateful every day that Pooh returned to him. It gave him two full years with Evelyn and Madeline. Those were memories he would treasure until his dying day.

But all good things must change. The fall came and Madeline started her new school in Sussex. Christopher braced himself for things to go poorly. Madeline was starting a school after being at another for two years. She was going to be a young woman soon with no mother to show her how to act. 

So, it came as a large surprise to him when Madeline returned him not alone but with another girl in tow. The little girl also had short brown hair. Christopher could tell she would be very pretty one day, but for now she just had a precious face. 

“Father, this is Lucy Pevensie,” Madeline said. “She lives in the house next door!” 

“Next door?” Christopher asked. He’d known the house had finally been bought, but given the area, he assumed it would be some older couple. 

“Yes! Would it be alright if she stayed for dinner?” Madeline asked, bursting with nervous energy. 

“I don’t see why not,” Christopher said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Is your mother home? I should probably let her know where you are.” 

“My mother passed. We live with our father,” Lucy said so matter-of-fact that Christopher felt immediately off guard. 

“Still, let me go tell him where you are,” Christopher said. He excused himself and headed out the door, instantly grateful to be away.

He didn’t know why her words hit him so hard, but they did. No, that was a lie. He worried that one day Madeline would be able to speak so bluntly about Evelyn’s passing, that she would not remember her so much or miss her. Madeline was so young to be without a mother, only ten. Christopher was younger when he lost his father, but he hardly remembered him at all. 

He couldn’t help but wonder if time would make him forget Evelyn too, the way he forgot Pooh, and the way time had begun to soften his memories of his men who died and the men he killed. Would she fade too. 

The thought was horrifyingly grim, and he shoved it aside very quickly, turning into the driveway of the house next door. “Next door” was a misnomer. The properties shared a common line, but it was a decent little walk to the next house. It gave Christopher time to clear his mind. 

Still, he was unbalanced, which was why he wasn’t prepared when he met the Master of the House. For just a second he would have sworn he saw not a man but an impossibly tall lion. Worse, seeing the Lion seemed perfectly natural and Christopher was in no way bothered until he blinked and realized he’d been looking not at a lion, but a man. Then he was extremely bothered. 

The man was taller than him (though this was hardly a difficult task, though this man was at least half a foot taller, which was notable) with a sort greying golden-brown hair which was to his shoulders and carefully braided back. He wore a mostly neatly trimmed beard. He was in pants, suspenders and a white shirt with his sleeves rolled up. The second Christopher saw him his heart gave one large start, which he remembered happening to him only one other time: the day he met Evelyn. 

“My apologies,” the man said. The voice sounded extremely familiar, though Christopher could not place why for the life of him.

“Ah, yes!” Christopher said, blushing when he realized he had been staring. “Are you Mr. Pevensie?”

“I am,” the man said. “But I would prefer to be called Aslan.” 

The name faintly settled in his mind. He’d heard it before, but the thought of it brushed aside quickly when Aslan extended his hand to shake. Christopher accepted, and his hand was wrapped in a large, warm, rough palm. It felt like a hug, Christopher though in a daze. 

“Christopher Robin. I live next door,” he said. 

“I know who you are,” Aslan said. Christopher swallowed. In the army, sometimes men fell into the arms of other man. That was the first place that Christopher had learned thinking about men in that manner was not inherently devious or evil. If he hadn’t had Evelyn, he may have done the same as those other men. 

But Evelyn had passed and he was faced with the terrifying prospect all on his own. This time, it was in a very normal place, a place that he could be run out of if people knew. Then Madeline would be without her home and what was left of her family. So, he leashed those thoughts viciously.

For a second, he was certain he saw disappointment in Aslan’s eyes. But that faded instantly to the point that Christopher was certain he had imagined it. 

“Yes, my daughter has asked if your daughter could stay for dinner,” Christopher said. 

“Lucy or Susan?” Aslan asked. 

“Lucy. You have more than one child, Aslan?” 

The warmth in Aslan’s eyes tripled and it filled Christopher from the top of his head to the tips of his toes as if he’d just had the best drink of his life. “I have four children. Susan is my eldest daughter. You have met Lucy. There is also Edmund and Peter. I should invite you and your family to dinner tomorrow.” 

Christopher pulled on a smile, a genuine smile at that. “We would enjoy that. It’s just Madeline and me, I’m afraid.” 

“Yes, I heard about your wife, and I am sorry, Christopher. She was a lovely woman and she should have been at your side for many more years.” Aslan looked in in the eyes. There was no pity, only understanding. For some reason, Christopher didn’t find it odd that this man he was certain he’d never met seemed to know his wife so well. 

“Thank you,” Christopher said. “We’re doing our best, but it’s difficult.” That was more than he’d ever admitted out loud to anyone. 

Aslan nodded. “My children are not mine by blood. There was an accident. But they are as much my children as the parents who bore them. But sometimes there is still sadness and tension.” 

“I can imagine,” Christopher said. His heart went out to the man. To be a single father raising four children who weren’t originally your own? That had to be difficult.

Christopher found himself laying his hand on his neighbor’s arm and giving a comforting squeeze. Before he even had time to realize in horror what he’d done, Aslan was smiling at him. 

“It has been good to meet you, Christopher,” Aslan said. “I suggest going home before the roast burns.” 

“The roast!” Christopher nearly shouted, jumping away. “I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner, Aslan,” he called over his shoulder before he started sprinting home. 

He made it back just in time to rescue his roast. The girls laughed at him for it, but that only made his heart feel a little lighter. Learning to keep house hadn’t been easy, but he was getting better at it. He would be a good housewife in no time. For some reason, that silly thought pleased him very much. Maybe it had to do with knowing he could make cakes for his daughter and friends. 

He and Madeline went to dinner with the Pevensie family the next night. That was where he got to meet the other three children. Aslan called them his Kings and Queens and they snuggled into him so openly that Christopher almost felt jealous. Peter and Susan were only two and three years away from adulthood, respectively. They were a close family and adored their father, but there was a maturity in their eyes that Christopher understood all too well. 

That was why Christopher said yes instantly when Madeline asked if she could introduce them to Pooh. They didn’t feel like heffalumps or woozles, but they did feel like children who were more mature than he thought children should ever be at their age.

The Pevensie children returned with a little wonder in their eyes that hadn’t been there before. Christopher didn’t comment, though Pooh and company had been very excited about new friends the next time he saw them. 

Three weeks later, Madeline packed herself and the older children up for a weekend of camping in the Hundred Acre Woods. Christopher wasn’t entirely certain why Aslan was fine with his children just disappearing for a weekend like that, but the man seemed unbothered when he arrived at Christopher’s doorstep that Saturday afternoon with a bottle of wine. 

“Since the children are off on an adventure, I feel we should have one of our own,” Aslan said, which made Christopher laugh and go get the bottle opener. 

“They’ll have a marvelous time,” Christopher said. 

“They always do,” Aslan said. There was something, just something in his tone which made Christopher turn and regard him, bottle opener in hand, but forgotten all the same. 

“Do you know where they are?” Christopher asked. 

“I know intimately where they are, though I would call it a different name than you do,” Aslan said, crossing the distance between them. 

“And what would you call it?” Christopher asked, swallowing deeply. 

“Narnia,” Aslan said. 

“That- that sounds familiar,” Christopher whispered, dropping his gaze. 

“Let me tell you a story,” Aslan said. He set the wine down and took the corkscrew from Christopher’s hand, brushing his fingers against Christopher’s palm in the process. Christopher tried not to blush.

“A story?” Christopher asked. 

“There was a land called Narnia. A magical place. One day, a little boy stumbled into Narnia with his beloved toys. He had names for all of them and he knew who they were as people. He saw a Rabbit and an Owl, and he knew their names and personalities. And because he believed so well, and loved so much, they were people and they existed on their own.” 

Christopher had been extremely young when he came to the Hundred Acre Woods, but the story Aslan was telling niggled at a very, very old memory, one of him stumbling through a tree he’d mean to make a fort out of for him and his friends. 

“One day, the King of All High Kings of Narnia came to this place the boy calls home. He named it the Hundred Acre Woods and so that’s what it was. He stood between the King, a great Lion, and he brandished a wooden sword and said-”

“If you want my friends you will have to get through me,” Christopher whispered. 

“And your friends said-”

“Christopher Robin, don’t you know who that is,” Christopher said. “Rabbit said that. And Own tried to land on my sword and- and-”

“And bow at the same time, so he fell off,” Aslan said. He got the cork out of the bottle. He began to pour wine into the glasses.

“I did see a lion the first time I met you!” Christopher yelped. Aslan put a glass into his hand. Christopher took a big gulp, wishing he had something stronger. 

“You saw what you remember, not the way I have been presenting myself,” Aslan said. 

“Why? Why are you here?” Christopher lowered himself onto one of the chairs at the dining table. His legs were shaking so hard her would fall if he didn’t sit and he did want to retain some dignity. 

“My children are also Kings and Queens of Narnia. I felt the accident when it happened. The war took so much that when I sent them home the last time, I sent them… away from the war. Years past the war. And I came with them, to protect them.”

Aslan sat down in the seat next to Christopher. He also had a glass of wine. He also took a rather large sip. “That little door is an anchored point to Narnia. It was easier to relocate here. My power isn’t quite as… potent in this world. I didn’t expect to find that little boy. I was surprised the day you walked into my garden,” he admitted. 

“Well… here I am,” Christopher said, almost bitter. “I’m sorry, if I’m in the way-”

“You aren’t. You belong here. The door is anchored by your love. It’s anchored so strongly that it never faded, even when you forgot. A deep magic runs in your love.” Aslan was looking at him in a way that Christopher didn’t know how to explain, but it had his heart racing. 

“Do you need help?” 

“Not, I think, the way you’re offering.” 

“Then how?” 

“When I’m here, I’m human, Christopher, as human as I am Lion in Narnia. My gifts are the same, but my reactions are a little different,” he said. His gaze was so intense. Christopher couldn’t help but shiver. 

“I find you deeply attractive as a man, Aslan,” Christopher said in a startling display of brutal honesty he suddenly wished he hadn’t been working to learn to accomplish. His silence had put a wall between him an Evelyn for years after the war, and he had worked for two years to communicate with her. Now was definitely not the time for those skills to come to use. 

But Aslan smiled. He wasn’t disgusted. Instead he spread his legs, just a little, so their knees touched. 

“I also find you to be a deeply attractive man, Christopher. I know you’re afraid. I know that you have good reason to be. But will you believe me that I would never allow harm to come to you in that manner? No one will hurt you because you are in love with a man shaped person.” 

“Can you do that?” Christopher asked. Then he felt embarrassed to be asking. “Of course you can.” 

“Yes,” Aslan answered anyway, making Christopher’s face heat. He took a deep gulp of wine, finishing the glass off. Aslan dutifully poured another. 

“So, you want me?” 

“If you’re interested,” Aslan said. 

“I am. And nervous. Evelyn had a way of seeing through me, but I’m also rather obtuse, I’m afraid,” Christopher said. “What if I… what if I hurt you as well?” 

“You’re a loving, caring man. And Christopher, that obtuseness, as you say, is no problem for me,” Aslan pointed out. 

Christopher set his wine down. He crossed the distance between them, kissing Aslan on the mouth. He could have sworn he heard a surprised noise from Aslan’s chest, but then Aslan was kissing him back. The kisses were fairly short. Christopher didn’t mind. A dozen short kisses had his heart pounding in his ears. 

Aslan pulled back, a soft expression his eyes. “My dear, sweet boy, it seems you are a bit overwhelmed.” 

“Shush,” Christopher murmured, but it was entirely true. “It’s a lot all at once.” 

“It is,” Aslan agreed. “If you are amendable, I would like to spend this time getting to know each other.” 

“And kissing,” Christopher said. His face was flushed, but he grinned at the idea. 

“That to. And holding you,” Aslan said. 

“I-” Christopher stopped and licked his lips. “I would like that very much.” 

“I would too,” Aslan said. He laid one hand over Christopher’s and then poured himself more wine. 

It felt normal like that. Despite who they were, despite gender presentation, despite their loses and grief., it felt normal when they sat like that. They stayed for hours holding hands, knee to knee, drinking wine and whispering secrets. Christopher couldn’t shake the feeling that Aslan had many things he would never be able to explain because Christopher would never be able to fathom them. But at the same time, when Christopher whispered his shames about the war, he knew Aslan could understand without him having to say any of it out loud. But Christopher could say these things when it had been too hard to voice them even to Evelyn. Aslan could see who he was already. He liked him anyway. 

Sunday evening, the children came home. Pooh was held in Lucy’s arms, Kanga and Roo in Peter’s, Owl and Rabbit in Edmund’s and Eeyore in Susan’s. The entire Hundred Acre Woods came to have dinner with them. Of course, Christopher’s friends knew who Aslan was, but that didn’t stop Pooh from crawling into Aslan’s lap like he belonged there, the way he did with Madeline and Christopher. It also didn’t stop Christopher’s heart from flipping over with a little happiness when he saw it. 

Aslan and Christopher didn’t address their relationship to the children that night. They wouldn’t for an entire year. By that year’s end it was startlingly obvious to their children that they were quite smitten with one another. But that first night it wasn’t obvious. They may have appeared to be friends, but they were already blending their families, joining together hearts and love. It was a good night. It was a good beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> I am sorry for this! This is Orientalld's fault! And my Husband's! I am so sorry!


End file.
